​Boy Killed At Gun Store After Another Accidental Shooting

For the second time in as many months there has been an accidental shooting at a U.S. gun store, this time a 7-year-old Pennsylvania boy is killed.

According to police, the boy and his father, 44-year-old Joseph V. Loughrey traveled to the Twigs Reloading Den gun store in East Lackawannock Township, about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh. The father was looking to sell a hunting rifle and handgun but was unable to reach a deal with the gun store’s owner.

After leaving the store is when Lt. Eric Hermick, of the Pennsylvania State Police said a “very tragic” event unfolded.

After the boy, Craig Allen Loughrey, climbed into a booster seat on the passenger side, the father walked around to the driver’s side, secured the rifle in the truck and then got in.

As he was placing the handgun on the console with his right hand while pulling the truck door shut with his left hand, the handgun accidentally discharged, shooting the boy in the chest and killing him, Lt. Hermick said. The was pronounced dead on the scene.

Investigators said Loughrey told them he didn’t realize there was a bullet still in the chamber, after unloading a magazine at home. “This happens all too often where people think the gun was empty,” Lt. Eric Hermick told The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.